The Twins have eliminated four of the five jobs on their pro scouting staff, reports Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Ken Compton, John Manuel, Keith Stohr and Jose Marzan will not have their contracts renewed at the end of the current season. That will leave Wesley Wright as the club’s lone remaining pro scout.
As Hayes mentions in the article, cutting down on pro scouts is a league-wide trend. He uses the Cubs as an example, linking to a November 2024 article from Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic detailing that club’s move to more analytics and less reliance on traditional scouting. Hayes writes that the Twins, like the Cubs, have been relying more on video in recent years with far less travel for in-person scouting.
However, even in that example, the Cubs dropped their pro scouting department to seven employees. That’s more than the five the Twins had this year, before dropping down to just one individual going forward.
The decision to rely more on analytics and less on scouting is one that is often debated in baseball circles, going back at least to the Moneyball days and surely even beyond that. However, Hayes says the Twins scaling back the department is about cutting costs, which is potentially ominous for the club’s future.
Money has been hovering around the Twins in many ways recently. The club’s regional sports network deal with Diamond Sports Group, now known as Main Street Sports, was not renewed after 2024. That left Major League Baseball in charge of the club’s broadcasting in 2025. Those league-run arrangements are believed to give clubs less revenue than a healthy RSN agreement.
Regardless, the club came into 2025 hoping to contend and they did so for a while. The Twins were in the playoff race for the early months of the current season but fell out of the race as the trade deadline approached. Many expected that the club would trade impending free agents with the goal of contending again in 2026 but the sell-off ended up being more notable than anticipated. In addition to the impending free agents, they also sold controllable players like Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax.
From a financial point of view, the most notable trade was the one sending Carlos Correa to the Astros. Though the Twins ate some money in the swap, they moved the majority of his contract off the long-term books. He was owed approximately $103.4MM through 2028 at the time of that trade, with the Twins staying on the hook for $33MM of that. There were more marginal financial notes as well. For instance, the Twins included Randy Dobnak in the deal sending Chris Paddack to the Tigers, which was seemingly to save them the roughly $2MM still owed to Dobnak.
A couple of weeks after the deadline was another notable development. The Pohlad family, which had been pursuing a sale of the franchise, decided to take the club off the market. They were looking for about $1.7 billion, though reportedly were carrying over $425MM in debt. They didn’t seem to find anyone willing to meet their asking price and instead sold minority stakes to a pair of new parties. The infusion of cash from selling those stakes to the new partners will reportedly help pay down the debt somewhat, though it’s unclear to what degree. Hayes notes that the new owners haven’t yet been officially approved by Major League Baseball.
Going into the winter, it’s not confirmed which direction the club will go for the 2026 season. They did target a lot of MLB-ready talent at the deadline, including players like James Outman, Alan Roden, Mick Abel and Taj Bradley. That arguably points to the club hoping to remain relevant next year but the continued penny pinching doesn’t bode well.
If further cost-cutting is a priority, that presumably increases the chances of players like Pablo López or Joe Ryan being made available this winter. López is making $21.5MM annually through 2027. Trading him could be big savings for the Twins but would still have plenty of appeal for other clubs. Ryan is even more of a bargain as he’s still in his arbitration years. He is making just $3MM this year and will be owed a raise in the two coming campaigns before he’s slated to reach free agency after 2027.
Players like Ryan Jeffers, Bailey Ober, Trevor Larnach and Royce Lewis are also in their arb years and could be candidates for cost-cutting moves if that’s the road the Twins go down. Byron Buxton is the club’s other significant salary commitment, next to López, though he has a no-trade clause and has said he would like to remain a Twin for life.
Photo courtesy of Brad Rempel, Imagn Images
Cutting 4 pro scouts can’t save more than $1MM? Doesn’t seem like that’s a cost that moves any needles.
One trade of Pablo Lopez saves 20x. Feels like they believe they’re not needed more so than the cost benefit.
It has to be more than that with travel and lodging, besides salaries. It makes sense when teams can watch video of many young players and you can avoid individual bias.
Profits over people and it will just get worse going forward. Just like robot umpires. There will probably be vtuber/ai play-by-play being “tested” in the not too distant future.
With all the video available, a scout can watch all of a players ABs for a season in the time it takes them to travel and see a few ABs in person. I think this is one reason why scouting departments are shrinking.
While multiple cameras and video can do some of the job, they can’t discount the people skills side of scouting like personally speaking with the prospects and their coaches. Does “makeup” go out the windows now for draft comsiderations?
This is pro scouting not amateur. They aren’t allowed to talk to the players (that would be tampering).
Isn’t that what HR is for?
Of course they are allowed to talk to players. They are not allowed to say, “why dont you come play for us”, but they are allowed to have a conversation with them.
YBC: Agreed that make up is still important. I saw an interview with Devin Pearson who runs the Red Sox drafts and he said video has made scouting more efficient. So, I assume that is a big reason why teams have less scouts. I think teams are still able to interview prospects and their make up is still important.
The Red Sox increased their pro scouting staff when Breslow took overn They also increased the number of people scouting through watching video. Now they are in the playoffs. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.
no
Video is great, when you determine who you want to watch. It isn’t going to help you find the guy who’s skills grab your attention while there yo watch his teammate or an opponent.
Didn’t the Sox let multiple long term scouts go? And there was more changes post-audit as Breslow wanted people to take more pay cuts?
bostonglobe.com/2024/09/17/sports/red-sox-scouting…
@seamaholic 2
baseballamerica.com/stories/mlb-to-adopt-scouting-…
@seamaholic 2
“Scouts and other MLB personnel can meet with players, do in-home visits and gather off-field information about players during the dead period so long as it does not include baseball activities.”
Oooooh! Which VTuber would you like to see do play-by-play? I think Dokibird could pull it off. Or Bao maybe.
Or better yet, get Keith Hernandez and Gary Cohen to get some anime girl avatars and they could be baseball VTubers!
@teabo it will probably be some weird anime crossover of the mascot sponsored by an insurance company, fueled by a machine that grinds foster children into a fine paste.
If that, most scouts are just regular working humps like the rest of us
Scouts don’t get paid even that much. 4 heads of scouting departments wouldn’t make $1 million in total.
Well when you are a struggling billionaire you’ve got to cut corners somewhere. Hopefully the pohlad family can survive
Astros Legend Dequam LaWesley Wright??
One and the same. Just goes by Wesley meowadays!
If they can’t afford to pay the players, and they can’t afford to pay the scouts, they can’t afford to own a major league baseball team.
They value money more than they value the team. Just sell the team, Pohlads. They’re an embarrassment to the fans and MLB should see them as the embarrassment they are.
Got nothing to do with what the Pohlads can afford. It’s what the Twins can afford. Those are not the same thing, in fact they are rigidly separated financially.
You truly have no idea how general partnerships work, do you?
I know what you mean. I’m Not Korean.
yes please
Pohlads may not have enough money for the luxury tax but the reason they don’t want to sell is because the twins are a money making machine
Pohlads would lose that consistent money machine if they sell
I remember when Manuel was with Baseball America, back in the day.
You got a memory like an elephant, falcon! I recall enjoying his appearances on MLB Network back then, too.
I say every team should just go with AI top to bottom, have AI umpires on the field, and have Bender from Futurama play all positions, including pitcher. People have opinions and cost too much money. AI all the way.
We’ll call it blernsball!
Did you read the great article in WIRED that said that ChatGPT and Gemini lie because of the way they were trained? They are scored and the scoring gives them as many points for a quick, but incorrect answer as it gave them demerits for incorrect answers. They literally trained them to make stuff up. That is why 40% of the information given on the AI Google searches is incorrect.
Even umpires are better than that.
Don’t worry. The Twins are going to hire Jonah Hill.
*finger point* 👉
“He gets on base…”
The recent news coming from The Pohlads is making Bob Nutting look like Steve Cohen. Just sell the team, they clearly can’t afford to own an MLB team, and lord knows this country has plenty of billionaires that can afford a team.
Maybe, just maybe… the Twins plan on hiring more scouts in the Offseason?!? I hold onto hope. Always appreciated the Scouting Department!
You or I or Elon Musk could own the Twins and it would make no difference. The question is the Twins’ balance sheet not the Pohlads’.
Ehhh… I’d settle for both, seamer. Twins do have a balance sheet (and I doubt 4 fulltime scouts affect it much) but it’s the Pohlads making decisions.
When the quality of the product on the field crushes the ability of the balance sheet to rebound, the real question is Do the Twins have the scouting capabilities in place to overcome that?
I don’t see it.
Skynet looms over baseball.
Wow, cutting off your nose to spite your face.
“Twins announce they have invested in AI, which will replace all but a receptionist in the Front Office. In 2027, all position-players except for catchers will be AI. Commissioner Manfred was cautiously optimistic about the changes, and took the opportunity to remind the MLBPA of upcoming CBA negotiations.”
All of you that claim that all MLB teams make money hand over fist and their owners are just cheap give up yet? Except for a few teams – mostly that own their own TV – it’s break even at best.
What a crock. Billionaires and private equity firms are not clamoring to get into MLB ownership to break even.
Found the Pohlard family’s burner account
When the Marlins were sold Loria made a billion dollar profit from the sale. When the Rays are sold Sternberg’s ownership group will make a billion dollar profit.
Now no one would call these flagship franchises but it’s hard to argue they’re not insanely profitable if their valuations have increased by a billion dollars.
I would love to break even and have the runaway valuations
If there is one sure method of making sure your team will not be competitive, it’s to cut scouting. I feel so sorry for Twins fans. Dark days ahead.
100% agree. Unfortunately.
Meh, the way the Twins operate there aren’t going to be many pro’s that need scouting…
The smarter, bigger market teams will use this an an opportunity to scoop up talent evaluators, or even recruit scouts away from teams to come work in a safer environment where they’re less likely to be axed.
It’s clear most people don’t understand what’s coming.
This announcement at same time Buxton has met some of his contract incentives.
The Pohlad family has enough financial resources at their disposal that they COULD spend on par with the Yankees or the Dodgers BUT THEY DON’T WANT TO. They prefer to operate the Twins as a stand alone enterprise that turns a profit. The reality is that MLB success is expensive.
The team wins and everybody thinks they are deserving of a raise. If you just hang on with a marginal team but are decent enough to appear to be competitive, the fans will continue to support the team while player and other costs remain manageable and the team can actually eek out a small profit every year on it’s own. It’s a business, NOT a charity.
“You’re in the business army now, you’re only friend’s a BUCK and the more BUCKS you’ve got, the more friends you’ve got” – Fred Flintstone.
The Pohlads are Billionaires because of their father’s great business mind. Big difference in inheriting a business and building one. Name another ML team that is $425,000,000 in debt? They definitely don’t deserve to be owners!
Let AI do the scouting. Much cheaper and less biased.
Sucks for twins. Their lineup could be amazing. Jenkins, Rodriguez, Buxton, kuschell, wallner, Lewis